One More Time: Sion's Story
by Crystile
Summary: Dominique is missing, and of course it's up to three out of five bouncers to rescue her. The other bouncers' stories will be up sometime in the future. Contains some profanity and gore.........
1. Starting

BIG OL' NOTE: This fic is different, in that it would be told through the eyes of 5 different characters as if they were the main one in the story. And different characters in the story will mean variations and endings, so bear with me. I'll start with Sion's story...  
  
I sleep, leaning against the brick wall of the bar, nothing haunting my mind in the form of subtle dreams. But deep within the fissures of the human mind I ponder the dilemma that has plagued his consciousness for a week, slowly devouring his sanity and composure. The void that was once filled with my source of joy and love stands in the doorway of my brain, blocking my senses.  
  
Dominique was missing. Gone without a trace for one whole week.   
  
I wake with a start. What am I doing? I think. I have a job to do. I look around at the silent Dog Street, gloomy with lack of human activity. Strange for a weekend, when shoppers would walk their way to the nearby mall and revelers would seek out a place for beer and downright fun. Dog Street was sinking its black teeth into my mind, until I hear a bark.   
  
A whine. Then a whimper.  
  
I turn my head toward the source of the sound. A few yards away I glimpse a brown coat of fur, caked with dust and a few specks of dirt. White paws tap the ground, the floppy ears turning every which way as the puppy searched with caution and attention. His eyes, full of playful tears, shine and glitter in the streetlight's glow.   
  
"Angelo?" The puppy perks up its ears at the sudden question, then trots to me. I reach out my gloved hand. "What are you doing here?" I rub the puppy's brown, soft, furry head.   
  
Angelo looks at the human in front of him with the same admiration that Dominique would give to him. It was only two months ago that Dominique had snuck him into Fate by stuffing him into her yellow raincoat. A hungry bark was all that revealed his presence in the building, where pets were not allowed. With a sheepish smile, Dominique took out the struggling animal and showed it to everyone in the bar, talking excitingly about how she found it wandering about the street near her apartment, starving and searching for a morsel of nourishment. Eventually, the dog was allowed to romp around the bar however he pleased, sniffing and panting with glee at every object he found interesting, absorbed in his petite explorations.  
  
On his neck he wears a bone-shaped metal tag, with his name and address imprinted on the back. On the front is a basic bone design that shines with every twist in every kind of light. I now study the tag, my brows wrinkled with trouble. Where can she be?  
  
Suddenly Angelo looks at a different direction and sniffs, picking up traces of a familiar scent. He sprints off.   
  
"Wait! Angelo!" I take off after the runaway dog, shouting for him to stop. From afar, I hear other people shouting, but I disregard them. I continues on, chasing Angelo.   
  
For what seemed like forever, the brown blur of fur turns, stops, sniffs, and runs down numerous streets, across the Central Plaza and into the Central Train Station. Finally, he halts, sitting down by a wide gap where a train would travel along. He pants and carries a smiling expression as I and two other men catches up.   
  
"What... is... it... Angelo?" I inquire while gasping for breath.   
  
"Was gonna ask you the same thing, Sion." I turn.  
  
Kou clasps his knees as he asks, "What's the matter with the dog? Got something to show us?" Behind him stands Volt, towering over the tired, black-haired bouncer who was bent over with fatigue. His piercings gleam as he asks, "Why are we here?"   
  
"Oh Jesus." Kou looks around. "Not this place again."   
  
Angelo sits still near the train tracks, with a grin on his face.   
  
"I think..." I hesitate. "I think... he has a clue on where Dominique is."   
  
Volt stares at Sion with disbelief. "You really think he knows?"  
  
I gulp down the saliva collecting in my mouth. "Yeah."   
  
"Well... why do we just... board the train and see for ourselves, eh?" Kou grins. "Of course, I'll do anything to avoid this again..."  
  
"Well..." Volt shoves him through an open door. "Tough luck."  
  
"What? HEY!" CRASH! BONK! "OOWW! Watch it!" Volt and I step through. Kou's eyes fill with fear. "You don't really mean it, do you?!"  
  
"You said it," comes the curt reply.  
  
Kou rubs his tattooed forehead, where a bruise was developing. "You know, I was just joking."  
  
"So you were, so you were..."  
  
"Maybe you weren't paying attention to the logo on the side of this train..."  
  
Inside the train is no different than what we have seen one night on our way to Mikado Corporation headquarters. The feeling of dread once again fills our minds as we realize that Dominique may be in Mikado's hands. Who was behind this scheme, however, no one knows.   
  
The train door closes. We shift our footing as the train starts with a jerk and gradually increases in speed... 


	2. Already, A Fight

Note again: Ok, so the first chapter is pretty short. Bah, just a prologue . There's some profanity coming up, so bear it.

We sit on the seats in the hollow train car, but strangely the train doesn't move. What's going on? I wonder. What's next? This, I wish I can answer.

"Strange. we got on without a hitch, and everything's so quiet and still" Kou breaks the silence. "I don't like this at all."

"Just shut up. We don't want to risk being discovered by them" Volt whispers.

"Whoever they are "

BREEP! BREEP! BREEP!

"Oh shit." Kou looks up at the flashing red alarm light with a look of disgust. "How do they know we're here"

The alarm continues. My ears ring with every pulse of the noise. It is deafening, screeching throughout my head and body. Volt and Kou look around, trying to make sense of it all and find a place to hide.

After what seems like hours, the alarm quiets, and we hear someone approaching with the "clump, clump" of casual footsteps.

"Quick! Hide somewhere" Volt spits.

We all scurry to a possible hiding place. I duck underneath the bench on the side of the train, thanking whoever is above that the seat was wide and deep, covering me completely at the top. From the side, I can see Kou pressed behind a doorway, but where was Volt? I can't see him, but as I try to search as much as the cramped space would allow me, I see shoes right next to me.

They weren't dress shoes, as I would expect from an employee. Instead, they were sneakers, a thick black stripe running from the top and back of the shoe down the whole until it stops at the end of the tongue. The soles were caked with dust and a few specks of dirt, with dead grass embedded in the dirt. The owner shifts his feet, loose denim hugging his ankles, suggesting baggy jeans. I can't see any more above this, and I don't dare. I also worry about my hair, lest it sticks out from beneath the bench and becomes the dead grass stuck on the soles of his sneakers.

"Huh." The voice carries a hint of adolescence, which leads me to conclude that the man is no more than my age, but I can be wrong. "Where can they be."

Silence, save for my heavy breathing and the hum of the train's innards working non-stop underneath the floor. I wonder what could be present in his mind. Then.

The legs bend, and suddenly I find myself staring at a face.

"Boo."

"YYAAAA" I roll out quickly and try to deliver a sweep while on my back. He jumps out of the way with ease. A flash of metal, and I am facedown with an ache in my side.

The man runs, turns a corner and shouts"WHOA" I see a blur as Kou shoots out his arm and misses. He is shoved and stumbles over me.

"WAA" "OW" I hit my forehead on the floor by accident and grunt. A set of denim-clad legs was stumbling towards me but stops an inch from my face as Volt rights himself.

Kou and I get up clumsily. When we look at out attacker, it is a. bizarre sight.

I don't know what are the most outstanding features of our attacker, whether it is his sunny-blond hair, his half-nakedness, the silver-gray arms, or his weapon. His hair stands straight and spiky, slightly curving to the back, and wavers in the air-conditioned car; it must been at least a foot long. It is like seeing broom bristles pasted on his semi-suntanned head, although at this time, I have no time to laugh about it; he has that much hair. Two bundles of it emerge from a spot on the left of his fore- hairline and sweep to the right and left side, a few locks sticking out.

His torso is naked; the only things on it are the nipple rings. Now, I am not joking, they are HUGE. They are about 2 inches in diameter, which is rather large for nipple rings. The left ring is elaborately fitted with steel angel wings encircling the circumference, with a woman's head at the bottom and folded arms beneath her chin, the hands resting on her shoulders. The right ring is a wreath of cracked bones, with three similarly detailed skulls threaded by the bones, hanging loosely. They shine with the luster of a new product, but I can see that the bones have received no similar care. Likewise, the head on the angel ring was gleaming in the soft light of the overhead fluorescent bulbs, yet the wings and arms were dull.

His arms are also worth mentioning, though not as impressive as his accessories. The skin on them is COMPLETELY silver-gray; I take a guess that he deliberately had his arms tattooed in such a way. From the top of his shoulders to the tip of the middle finger, each arm, I swear, can defeat Kou's head-to-ankle tattoo in a body tattoo contest. No design, no image, just silver-gray arms. I note them as part of his bizarre wardrobe, if you can consider nipple rings and loose jeans as a whole wardrobe.

This young man is fitted with jeans, tight against his thighs, but loosened out below the calf and crumpled on top of his shoes. He wears them low, below his navel by two inches, and from my view they are ready to fall off at any time without any belt to support them, unless they have hidden elastics. Other than the jeans, he wears nothing.

But all these things aren't the only ones that attract our full attention. It is the long weapon he holds in his right hand that shocked us.

The weapon, should I say, clearly is a sword- or is it? No, it was a hybrid sword-GUITAR. I am not making this up. The handle of the sword is a long shaft of steel, but the general shape of the weapon is a guitar, complete with strings and tuner tabs. The body of the sword/guitar is a sharp and lethal blade, a centimeter thick and my thumb-to-little-finger span wide, and 2 feet long. The sharp part of the blade is alone 3 inches wide. The shaft has the same width and length as a typical electric guitar would have (in truth, it looks like half a solid steel cylinder), and on it 4 strings travel along from head to body. I can tell from the twisted tuners that the man plays his weapon/instrument often. Whether he is good at it or not, I don't care, so long as he is staring at us with the look of the Grim Reaper upon his face.

He gives us a wide, sinister grin, and I finally see a long scar, running from the left corner of his lips to a slight below of his left ear. He has an earring, a silver dot with a small ring attached to it, swinging freely, stuck in his left earlobe. And as I saw it, I see yet another asset that catches my attention. A flat horn is attached to the back of each ear, at the top. I do not know what purpose they serve for him, but nonetheless, they catch my eye. They now gleamed with evidence of proper care, just as his emerald-green eyes now brighten as he inspects us, stowaways on his train.

"Well" He reaches out a hand. "Tickets, please" with that devilish grin. "No? Ah well, isn't that too bbaaaadd" drawing out the last word.

I break out of my staring trance and inquire him"Where's Dominique"

"Eh" He puts on a quizzical face and cocks his head to one side. "Who are you talk- OH. that girl." He trails off, realizing his mistake.

"So where is she" I demand, losing my composure steadily.

He sighs. "Hey look, I got nothin' to do with her, 'k? She just came to our place by herself."

"What. Are. You. Talking. About"

"No really! I don't know nothin' else 'bout her"

Kou mutters next to me"Well that answers it."

"Who are you" Volt asks. "I don't remember seeing you around in Mikado."

"Why do you give a shit" He stretches his neck, popping his joints. "The point is, YOU'RE on this train, YOU don't have our permission to be here, and so YOU deserve some punishment." He fiddles with the guitar strings. "And I saved ya some front-row seats. in hell"

WHOOSH! The door behind Kou slides open as he backs up.

"C'MON"

Volt and I follow him out the door as fast as we can. Outside, the train sits under ceiling lights, with no life in its wires. Why is it not moving?

We climb up the ladder we saw attached next to the door.

"Wha- DAMN SHIT" we hear coming from the car. "He's gonna kill me."

We run toward the front of the train, our hair bellowing behind our heads, no true destination in our mind but the notion of escaping from that crazy bastard.

WHAM! He flips onto the top of the train and lands with a dull metallic sound, blocking our way.

"Now. where do you think you're going, huh"

"Dammit! We don't have a choice, do we" Kou says under his breath.

"Guess not."

SHWA! The attacker (I'll have to call him that for now) swings up and brings his sword/guitar down swiftly, right at our heads!

"EEE-YAAAAA" We strafe, barely avoiding the blade by a hair.

"Ok, that's it! You're asking for it, you son of a bitch" Kou sends out a roundhouse and hits his foot squarely on the enemy's jaw.

"AAAHH! Ggggrrrr."

We advance on him, throwing out all that we can, noting his blade as he swings it around like a crazed animal. His eyes glimmer in the dim overhead lights with the intention to kill us, shall he get the chance. As we fight him, I ponder about his ability. He can evade our attacks easily, yet most of the time, he is blocking with his weapon, destroying any chance of us lowering his defense.

Volt rams his head into his chest, his horns digging into the attacker's chest and drawing blood.

"EEEGGGGAAAHH" He flies backward, falling on the metal-grid roof of the train. He struggles to get up, just as Kou comes up with a Rolling Stomp. He rolls to the side and pushes himself up. Kou lands, missing his target.

"Oh ho! I see. Ain't got a choice." He picks up his sword/guitar deftly and strums it with his bare fingertips.

What comes next was shattering to my senses. At the first contact between the strings and his fingers the whole train vibrates with earthquake force. Us bouncers stumble around, trying to get a sure footing and shouting at the sudden chaos. Lampposts sway in the Central Station, and the train hums with metallic tones. My vision shakes along the rumblings, and I grip around to try and find something sturdy to hold onto. My ears ring and I clasp them.

Our enemy stands in the middle of it all, apparently unaffected by the quake. He grins at us with triumph as we fall on our knees, unable to stand securely. His guitar sits snug in his hands as they grip it tight. His right hand hovers above the strings, ready to play again.

"HA! NOW what are you gonna do? Think you can stand up" He walks up to me holding on the grid for dear life as the quake recedes. He looks at me in the eye, his sharp nose inches away from my own. I can see his chest still bleeding from Volt's headbutt.

"Now. you're an interesting one. You wanna know where that girl is, don't look at me." His brows relax. "I'm just a pawn on this board. I'm not the big boss here. So don't expect me to know much about Dom-whatever-her-name- is." He huffs.

"Or the company, in this case"

"EEEE-YAAH" Kou's Heel Smash ends his sentence with a bull's-eye on his head.

I watch as the attacker slumps to the roof, his head bouncing on the metal grid once with a thump. I breathe hard from the fight, and Volt approaches.

"Nice one, Kou." He taps the fallen's head. "Right on the spot."  
KKAAA-CHONK! The train lurches. We look at each other with wide eyes.

"Ooohhh nnnooo..." Our voices sink with realization of the situation.

WWWWHHHHHEEEEENNNN! The train's engine starts up, not with a typical "chug chug", but with the sound of an electric motor. And now for the first time, I noticed the shape of the train's nose. It was streamlined, pointed at the yawn of the tunnel ahead and painted with the colors of Mikado: red lines and thick black stripes and white fill-ins. There's only one reason why the nose is pointed...

Slowly the train moves forward, its engines whining louder, then louder, working to propel its cargo. Gradually, it accelerates, more, and more, and MORE-

"OH MAN" Kou shouts. "When did they get a magnet-electric"

I feel the wind blowing against my body, pushing me backwards. I step forward to regain some footing.

Bad mistake. The aerial torrent sweeps me off my feet, my stomach hitting the train roof hard, knocking the wind out of me. It keeps pushing me to the back of the train, and sooner or later, I will fly off! I reach out and grip the holes in the metal grid, holding on as best as I can. My body lurches with the sudden stop and shift of inertia. Volt and Kou do the same thing.

The train speeds up, faster, faster! until I guess its speed at 200 kph. My lips are flapping, my teeth chilled, my cheeks bellowing, and my hair whipping back. It would be a funny sight, if I or the others weren't the ones experiencing it. Before me I can hardly see the design on the bottom of Volt's black-soled leathers, and the tunnel flashes with bright blurs of light. My fingers scream at me to release my hold, but I prevail. No way am I going to let go on a speeding train. As I pray and the train emerges out of the tunnel and into open night air, I hear the "whumpwhumpwhump" of a helicopter from behind me. I look around and see a standard black military chopper desperately trying to chase the train. Who...

I heard a whoosh, and before me stands (or lies or flies) Jarold, doing the same thing that I was: holding on for life. His left fingers lock around the metal, his right hand holding his sword/guitar. He grins.

"Just want to let ya know..." he smirks, his teeth flashing with a slight tint of plaque-yellow.

"I busted the brakes."

He lets go and flies off, arms flailing. The pilot of the chopper sees this and veers down a bit, careful of the danger present. At the last minute, Jarold reaches up and grabs the chopper's landing skis. His body swings wildly around as he hoists himself into the open door, which isn't easy to do with an odd guitar in one hand. He mockingly waves at me, and then disappears into the cockpit.

The three of us watch helplessly as the chopper lifts and hovers away toward the headquarters of Mikado Corporation, whose station the train was approaching at neck-breaking speed with no deceleration in sight...


	3. Of Things to Come

"SSSSSHHHIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!"  
  
I hear Kou scream this as we near the Mikado train station with mind- blowing speed. The squall of the rushing wind shrieks in my ears, damaged enough by Jarold's screeching guitar minutes ago. My hair whips, almost slashes my eyes, and I blink to wipe them. I watch horrified as the three- tower form of the building looms ahead of us, enlarging gradually but still fast enough to strike fear. We are nearing the end of the ocean bridge. Outside, the navy-blue ocean waves, spread out beneath the bridge like a magnificent aquatic carpet, and the night air becomes a howl against my clothes and body, though under normal circumstances it would be still in this weather. The train, however, isn't at this time.  
  
"HEY!" Kou shouts. "I GOT AN IDEA!"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
A pause. "Move to the left as much as you can, to the edge!" Pause. "When I say so, push off!"  
  
A longer pause.  
  
"ARE YOU NUTS?!!" Volt shouts, his voice abnormally gruff with pure disbelief. I don't remember him sounding like that before.  
  
"TRUST ME!!"  
  
I shimmy to the left, grunting with the difficulty of grasping the metal grid roof on a high-speed runaway train. Slowly I make progress, and before long, I am at the left edge. Ahead of me, Volt does the same thing. I can't see Kou, but I know he's following his insane idea. As I hang on, I hear a roar of an engine above my in the star-studded black sky, and I look up to see a fighter plane flying overhead. Is it... yes, it is the same one that shot out the train's brakes during our previous trip! What is it going to do this time?  
  
It twists around, hanging a left, and points its machine-gun downwards toward the tracks.  
  
RATARATARATATAARATARATA! It fires at the tracks, and explosions fill my eyes.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS IT DOING?!!" Kou, again.  
  
Ka-WHAM! The train, hovering by magnetic force, hits the gap where no electricity was running and trembles with a roar. It bumps against the metal track and skids, the magnetism gone. Bright orange and yellow sparks fly from the edge and fall to the serene navy-blue ocean, withering as they descend. Our train shakes turbulently, and at any time I can lose my grip. It is slowing down, however.  
  
"Get ready! Any time now!" Kou informs us. Another tunnel, and we are now in Mikado's property.  
  
A moment pass and I glimpse the platform, same as it ever was before, starting to shoot by.  
  
"NOW!"  
  
I let go, pushing off as hard as I can. Momentum carries me out like a stray bullet, the train becoming smaller in my vision. It crashes into the wall, and explosions ensue, rocking the place and bringing down debris from the ceiling.  
  
My body slams to the ground, rolls for a minute, and then stops. I moan from the pain signals shooting throughout my limbs, but my head, blissfully, stays intact, albeit bruised and throbbing. I lie on my back, breathing with every ounce of energy I have, clearing my mind of the confusion. Above me stands a gray lamppost, tarnished with years, swaying in the whirlwind resulting from the crash. Heat from the flames engulfs the area, surrounding me like a desert storm. The ceiling, tiled with ivory- white marble, glows fiery orange as the train throws the flames' light upon everything.  
  
I take time to ponder all this, when I feel a weight on my chest and a wet tongue on my nose.  
  
"Ah...what?" I stare into wide, wet eyes, brown head, and white muzzle, topped with a button-black nose.  
  
"Angelo?!" I sit up suddenly, startling the puppy, who jumps off and sits, wagging its furry tail and lolling its tongue in canine glee. I pick him up gingerly, afraid he might be injured without knowing it. "How did you get here?" He looks at me with innocent beady eyes and blinks, ignorant to my question and thinking about getting out of my shaky grip.  
  
Kou comes up behind me and drops his arm around my shoulders from exhaustion. He huffs for a minute; I suspect he regrets suggesting the wild idea of jumping off a speeding train. Large beads of sweat are forming on his forehead from the formidable stunt and the heat of the fire in the station, trickling down his cheeks and dripping off his chin. He gulps.  
  
"WHOO! Can't be-LIEVE we made that one! Thought we'll miss the platform and- ah, better not think of that now." He notices the ball of brown fur in my arms. "What- Hheeeeyyy... where did you come from, lil' mutt?" He grins, then looks at me. "How did he get here?"  
  
"He must have followed us onto the train and hid somewhere without us noticing," Volt says, walking to us. "It's rather strange that he'll stay quiet when we confronted Jarold." He glances at the burning train. "But to escape the train... that's no easy feat."  
  
Volt rubs the puppy's head and jaw with affection, and the dog passes a canine smile and slobbers on his hand. "Smart dog," he says, smiling also while wiping his hand on his jeans.  
  
All of a sudden Angelo perks up his ears and sniffs the air, detecting a scent no human can discern. He leaps out of my arms, plops on his tiny paws, and then starts to run to the station entrance.  
  
"Hey! Angelo!" We start after him, climbing the stairs to the entrance.  
  
It isn't until we see the puppy waiting for us in front of an elevator that I suspect something wrong with the place. Normally, we would be inundated with hordes of security guards waiting to get some action from us, but the station this time is empty, with no sign of life except for us and the burning train. This strikes a warning bell in my head, but I'm soon drawn to Angelo sitting with the same dog smile, with elevator doors behind him.  
  
The doors are gray, with blue lines drawn horizontally in the middle. Not much can be said about them. The puppy scratches at them, whimpering.  
  
"Hey, don't do that." I pick him up. He sniffs again and points his nose at the elevator buttons, reaching his paws.  
  
"What, you want to go up?" Behind me, Kou chuckles. I move to the plate on the bluish wall, set with only one button with an arrowhead pointing up. Angelo presses it, and it lights up.  
  
"Jeez... that IS one smart pup!" Kou shakes his head in amazement. "He should be a guide dog for the blind. Or the lost."  
  
The doors open, but before we can step in, Volt stops us. "Hold on. I don't remember elevators here." He looks inside. "Looks like the one in the Rocket Tower."  
  
"Ah hell." Kou walks in. "See? Nothing wrong here. For once." He grins. "In three months, they can add anything new, like elevators, right?"  
  
I realized suddenly that we have no idea which floor Dominique (if she is, in fact, here) is. I point this out.  
  
"Damn. We have no way of finding out, either." Volt bows his head in thought as the elevator doors slide close. His eyes turn to the animal in my arms, smiling. "Unless Angelo can do something."  
  
I look down at the ball of fur and he stares back at me with soft wet eyes. He then turns his attention to the array of buttons on the right of the doors. "Okay..." Walking over, I watch as he sniffs each button, then reach out and press two of them, claws clicking on the plastic coverings. Nothing happens. Volt furrows his eyebrows. "Oh...eight?" "Think he means eighty." I pressed that number in, and the elevator starts.  
  
As we lean against the wall, I put Angelo, with great effort, into my jacket hood and tighten the drawstrings. Only his head is out, and he now rests it on my shoulder. We stand in silence, and with nothing to do, I look at my friends. Volt, as ever, has his arms crossed, his shoulders square from his huge build. His eyes, more reddish than brown, are half- closed, giving him the impression of sleepiness. His black leather jacket is showing some signs of wear; some spots were dull in the dim light of the cab. Contrasting them is his piercings, which, from my attention to them this time, evokes a memory from my mind. I still remember the day I first came into the bar, starting a huge commotion and facing off against him, a demon-like hulk ready to crush every bone in my body. He left me on the floor, defeated soundly, but rewarded with a job as a bouncer. I had vowed to only stay until I could beat Volt in a match, but now, I'm not so sure. Dominique made me change my mind.  
  
I turn my head to the left and see Kou, his face full of worry. This is strange. Kou isn't one who lets anything trouble him to the point of concern. Although he can be serious, his tone is never such, as it always seem to be jovial. Despite, what Dominique had said to me once, "cute features" (I have no idea what made her say that) --- the tattoo reaching from his forehead, down his arms and body, and going somewhere to his ankles, and the face of a casual, joke-loving wisecracker, he is looking rather disturbed, as though something in his mind wasn't quite right. Maybe he's concerned that Dominique is in terrible danger, I think, but last time we were here, he didn't show that. Whatever the case, he isn't talking and breaking the echoing silence in the elevator cab.  
  
Which Volt notices.  
  
"Why aren't you talking, Kou? You always have something to say."  
  
Kou looks up, his dark brown hair swinging. "I do?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
He grins sheepishly. "Sorry, just don't have anything in my head to talk about now. Except Dominique, maybe. God knows what happened to her. Who do you think is behind this?"  
  
Volt shakes his head while adding, "I can't say. It shouldn't be Mikado. Hell, we shouldn't even be here, if it weren't for Angelo. We all know he's dead, and he wouldn't allow a successor to take his place, even if he's dead. I recall once when a reporter, during the opening of the Magatama Tower, asked him who he would choose as a successor. He replied that when he goes, the company goes with him." He shakes his head again. "I knew there was something wrong with him the day I first met him, but I couldn't say what then. Honestly, I can't even say what now."  
  
"You know..." Kou speaks up, "If Dauragon could make a bionoid based on his sister, don't you think he can make one of himself?"  
  
"So you're saying that we might have faced off against his replica, or that we did fight the real McCoy while the bionoid waits for revenge? That's impossible."  
  
"What?" I ask. "Why?"  
  
"A bionoid needs an actual, organic brain to function. As I have heard it, the brain from a subject is taken and implanted into the cavity inside the bionoid's skull. Dominique died from lung cancer - I believe her father was a heavy smoker - but her brain was still healthy. The doctors at Mikado took out her brain moments before she 'died' and transferred it to the mechanical body."  
  
"...So, she, along with other bionoids, isn't like robots?" Meanwhile, Angelo is showing interest in the conversation.  
  
"More like cyborgs. But only the brain and spinal cord are the organic parts."  
  
"What about, what's his name, PD-4? There was an army of them, but I don't think it's possible to have identical brains in identical bodies, if you know what I mean." PD-4 was a bionoid we faced in Mikado, ruthless and reticent. His right arm extended and functioned like a whip, but eventually we took him out. A group of them, however, was more than we could handle, and if it wasn't for Dominique, we wouldn't have survived.  
  
"I don't have many details on him," Volt replies, "but from what I know, there is a control PD-4, another 'cyborg' like Dominique. Apparently, those clones we faced have computer AIs programmed to function like his mind. He was still in development while I was working in Mikado, though, so I don't know anything else about Project D-4."  
  
"You sure know quite a bit, Volt." Kou smirks. "Had a lot of access to everything in Mikado, eh?" Volt gives a gentle smile. Just then, we hear a bell ring when the elevator reaches the designated floor.  
  
"Whoop. Here goes."  
  
The doors open. And what we see before us makes us gasp in surprise.  
  
Along the gray walls, blood is spewed everywhere. Bodies of security guards slump against the walls, the crimson of the blood mingling with the bright red of their uniforms. Some, to our horror, have their stomachs ripped open, organs spread out on their bellies and floor. The floor is equally covered in blood and corpses, some in a sleeping position, some with their limbs akimbo. A few are missing their heads, having instead a puddle of red. Another few have heads crushed beyond recognition, with limbs fractured the same, and I can not turn away from one of them, as an eyeball, slightly crumpled, dangle from the eye socket by a nerve, though try I did.  
  
For a long moment that spans an eternity, we cannot speak. The hallway is deadly silent.  
  
"Je....sus." Kou shakes his head, slowly at first, then more rapidly. "What in fuckin' hell happened here?"  
  
Slowly, we step over the corpses, spending every effort not to touch them. The more we travel down the hallway, the more dead men we see, sprawled in every position possible. I feel my throat clenching and my stomach lurching, but I keep it in. We do not say a word as we walked cautiously amongst the spread of bodies. A dead silence hangs from the ceiling and drifts to the floor.  
  
At the end of the hallway, there is a bridge with a metal floor and glass windows, forming a tube that leads to another tower. We approach here, when Volt stops us. He gestures to us to be quiet. I strain to hear any suspicious noise, but the hall is mute. Volt turns his head to the left, attentive, seeking for whatever caught his attention in the first place. I can't see his face from the right of him, but I can tell he is watching for anything. He turns to the right.  
  
I catch a flash of red, before a fast blur sweeps by and slams into Volt. He grunts loudly, and both of them crash through a large window, disappearing over the edge!  
  
"VOLT!"  
  
Kou and I run to the window and look down. We barely see two figures falling to the ground before they are too far to be seen. Glass shards tumble with them, sparkling in the night lights.  
  
"VOLT!" Kou shouts, but there is no reply. He breathes hard, and looking for a better view, he steps onto the bridge.  
  
CLICK! WHIIRRRRR....  
  
He turns back with horror as piece by piece the bridge withdraws, the pieces of steel drawing towards him, leaving a widening space between him and me. He turns again and runs away from the collapsing bridge, with the gap chasing after him, leaving me alone.  
  
I can't do anything. What can I do? Desperately, I search for a way across. But a voice stops me. I listen.  
  
"Sion..."  
  
This voice is soft but clearly belongs to a man. It is deep and whispers to me, but where is it?  
  
"Over here..."  
  
I follow the mysterious voice... 


	4. Conversation

Note: Sorry, I haven't been updating REALLY lately, and with school and AP classes, it's much tougher now. For now, this is all I have. Hopefully, I can keep it up, but I still have other characters' stories to do. Wish me luck.

2nd note (Feb. 11, 2005): It's been a while since I've updated this fic. For those who have read the story prior to February 11, 2005, you will notice that a few things have changed, particularly the removal of Redine. Since the last I've updated, my story has changed substantially, and Redine no longer fits into the plot. I apologize to those who remember reading about him.

It calls to me, penetrating my mind, grasping my heart and pulling me along with it. It is haunting, and I feel myself taking a step, one by one, towards its invisible source. Slowly I walk, straining to hear it, but as time passes, it fades, as if losing energy. My ears try to pick it up to no avail, and I am left standing in the middle of a bleak hallway, bloody corpses lying akimbo nearby, the stench of death starting to drift by. Only the huff of my nervous breathing breaks the dead silence, coming out in erratic rhythms.

Where could it be? I wonder, looking around for any sign of a clue as to the whereabouts of the voice. Nothing answers.

Curious to discover what may be hidden from me, I travel down a side hall quietly, afraid of any stray noise revealing my location to enemies, whoever they could be. Seems like I'm not quiet enough yet; from a distance, two sets of footsteps echo down the hall. Frantic for a hiding area, I duck into an office through sliding doors, search around, and finally slip under an executive bureau, complete with reddish brown drawers, a roll-out keyboard tray, and shining lacquer. I didn't take the time to see anything else.

After what seems like eternity, the footsteps come on, one set heavier, stronger than the other, the other light and soft.

"Christ, you're expecting me to do all the mind-work" I immediate recognize Jarold's voice.

"I expect you to make some brainstorming" a woman replies, chilling me with her monotone.

"Well, I've thought of every fuckin' way, and not one works" Bang on the table. "What do you think"

"...Send out more units. That's all we can do for now."

"Oh, you're a good strategist. How can I ever thank you" Jarold speaks with heavy sarcasm.

"Get your ass out there and do as I say. Standing around doing nothing will get us nowhere." Given the denotation, I expected the woman's tone to sound at least vexed. It doesn't.

"Um... Hello, I AM doing something here: thinking of some fuckin' way to take care of her, unlike a certain somene here..."

I suspect she gave him a cold look of death. Who was "her"?

"Watch your words."

Sigh. Jarold grumbles"Yes, your highness."

I hear the shuffling of feet, notably thick high-heels. "When she comes, use this. There is only one available now." The woman pauses. "Use it wisely."

Jarold sighs again. "Yes, yes, yes..."He stalks off, the door swishing behind him as he exits.

Before long, she exits, leaving me breathing heavily from the close encounter and wondering what was happening.

Who is this person they speak of? Could it be Dominique? It has to be; there can no doubt. As to what Jarold was given, could it be... a grenade? God, I hope not. Dominique hasn't done anything...has she?

I wait for a second before crawling out from under the bureau and run out of the office without looking back.

And I find myself in a completely different area from before, in the middle of what could only be hell.


	5. Shivers

Where the hell am I? Is this the same hallway that I have just come from? It...can't be...  
  
What I see is limited, since there is no longer a bright grey hallway, but darkness pierced occasionally with rays of bulb light. And by what little light shines, I make out bloody walls, yellow and decaying with the stench of death whiffing up my nose. The bodies of deceased guards are still slumped against the now-rotting walls, which to my total amazement and sudden shock are falling apart, bit by bit, in front of my eyes; but as I take notice of the corpses, there is something wrong with the scene. For example, I do not remember the body with the dangling eye sitting so close to the door I had just exited. Similarly, others are lying intact, yet I remember seeing them in torn pieces. Ghostly creaks and thumps echo through the hall; where they originate, I do not know. Only the walls hold my attention, and now as I listen, they crinkle with the crumbling wallpaint and whatever else may crawl behind or inside them.  
  
All this haunt me like a never-dying apparition waiting for sweet revenge upon me, tracking my every step, writing down my every word. Fearful shivers travel through my chilled veins and I shrug them off as best as I can. Yet the stench that drifts from the walls and corpses worsens the tremors, and the more I struggle to rid them the more they shake. I shake my head vigorously and blink, trying to clear my eyes of the visible, foggy stench, before taking a step forward. I think I see something twitch out of the corner of my eye, but I'm not too sure; the scene in which I am the sole living being could be playing twisted tricks with my senses.  
  
I progress down the hallway, watching the bodies fearfully, stepping gingerly over puddles of crimson and holding my breath as much as I can to keep the stench out of my head. It is ten paces past the elevator when Angelo suddenly barks.  
  
I jump a mile high at the sudden brisk sound. I have forgotten that he is curled up in my tightened hood all this time, never emitting a sound, witnessing the conversation in the office and the strewn mass of blood- covered bodies in the hall silently. Still he keeps barking, and I turn around to see why.  
  
And before me, a corpse struggles up, moaning tortuously.  
  
As I stare in unspeakable horror, one side of the base of his neck splits. The fleshy fissure spreads down to the waist, giving a split upper body over stumbling legs with a sickening ripping sound. His head, with the dangling eye, shakes violently, as though trying to shake out a demonic entity out. The jaw splits, revealing missing, plaque-covered teeth, and saliva flows out of the gaping mouth and down his chin, dripping off to the floor.  
  
The optic nerve attached to the dangling eye, while I took a step back, moves and bends up, aiming the horrid dented viewer at me. Instantly I freeze, terrorized by the fact that it is looking, STARING at me intensely, as though I am prey and it is predator, terrorizing me with the supposedly impossible action it has done, actually moving with a will of its own. Blood drips from the bottom of the eye, down to the dust-covered floor. It stares, a blink impossible, sending tremulous chills down my back.  
  
The...THING groans and reaches its putrid hands towards my neck. I immediately turn and run as fast as my legs can, and Angelo buries his head into my jacket hood. Slipping on a blood puddle, I fall and land on my hands, shooting darts of pain up my arms. Checking quickly to see if they are broken, which they were not, I get up and run again blindly to another door, grey and old. My hand grasps the handle and tries to turn it, but it would not budge. Panicking, I look back at the advancing, shuffling monster and shake the handle with cold fear, sweating despite the lack of heat. Angelo sticks his head out again and growls, and struggles to escape my hood, but with the drawstrings tightened, he cannot do so. He whines, and in doing so, I hear a loud rip and feel weight coming off my back. I whip my head around.  
  
Angelo is now struggling and biting the hands that grab him, letting out a guttural howl as the fingers clench. Shouting, I rush up and punch the monster in the face, sending it reeling backwards. It releases Angelo, and I scoop him up quickly. With a roar, the corpse shakes its twitching head and charges at me. I bow my head and shoulder-butt him, my hands full of brown fur, nose and ears. It flies back, crashes to the floor with limbs akimbo, and lays still.  
  
My breath heavy, I stare at the corpse as the nauseous smell of blood drifts around it, mingling with the existent odors from the other corpses. Surely, the others wouldn't rise up; if they do, then I want to wake up now.  
  
My stomach churns and I have to crouch down and get my breath back. Angelo stands by and waits patiently as I sweat and heave, breath stilted, mind foggy.  
  
"What the hell was that?" I say to Angelo and myself. He cocks his head. "What the hell...."  
  
Right then I hear it again: the voice. Who...?  
  
I try following it yet again; this time, I am sure where it comes from. It comes from behind that door which I have just tried, but how to open it? I put my whole weight against it and push against it.  
  
And it opens suddenly and sends me falling, and I yell. Not far behind, Angelo falls too, and both of us fall into yawning darkness, nothing light to help us.... 


End file.
